32 Japanese woodblock inspired designs – printed both sides of the page

Japanese Nature Print Designs to Color

By: Ming-Ju Sun

Rating: 4.5 of 5

This is a lovely Japanese inspired coloring book by Ming-ju Sun. While most of her books are released by Dover/Creative Haven, this is an earlier book that was published by Stemmer House.

An odd issue with finding this book on Amazon is that they have the artist/author incorrect. I tried to get them to fix it but, well, getting Amazon to fix anything has become too big a chore for me to deal with. After repeated message and discussions, it still shows Amie S. Ambrose as the artist. I’ll provide the link so you can more easily find it:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0880450134/

The illustrations are beautiful and many are two-page spreads, which is different from the work I have by this artist. The images are based on woodblock prints and the beginning of the book gives information about the process and Japanese artwork.

I deducted a half star because some of my two-page spreads don’t line up well. The designs are detailed and some have intricate areas to color.

This is what I found in this coloring book:

32 Japanese Inspired Designs are included in the book

The designs are printed on both sides of the page

Paper is white, medium weight, slightly rough and non-perforated pages

Glue Binding

The two-page spread designs do cross over the perforations

Alcohol-based markers bleed through the page

Water-based markers bleed through in spots and show colorful shadows on the back of the page

Gel pens and India ink pens leave shadows of color on the back of the page. India ink pens can bleed through when I apply more than one layer of ink.

Coloring pencils work well with this paper. I am able to get good pigment (color) lay down, layer the same color and multiple colors and to blend easily using a pencil style blender. Both oil and wax-based pencils have similar results. Hard lead pencils, like Verithins, leave dents on the back of the page.

If you use a medium which spots, shadows or bleeds through, you will mar the images on the back of the page.

Here are some samples from the coloring book: